Abstract:The application of high-resolution imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to classify the spatial extent and morphological character of ground and polished stone tool production at quarry sites in the Shetland Islands is explored in this paper. These sites are manifest as dense concentrations of felsite and artefacts clearly visible on the surface of the landscape. Supervised classification techniques are applied to map material extents in detail, while a topological analysis of surface rugosity derived from an image-based modelling (IBM) generated high-resolution elevation model is used to remotely assess the size and morphology of the material. While the approach is unable to directly characterize felsite as debitage, it successfully captured size and morphology, key indicators of archaeological activity. It is proposed that the classification of red, green and blue (RGB) imagery and rugosity analysis derived from IBM from UAV collected photographs can remotely provide data on stone quarrying processes and can act as an invaluable decision support tool for more detailed targeted field characterisation, especially on large sites where material is spread over wide areas. It is suggested that while often available, approaches like this are largely under-utilized, and there is considerable added value to be gained from a more in-depth study of UAV imagery and derived datasets.

In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples of cremated human remains are in fact known from the Palaeolithic onwards. Unlike conventional inhumation, cremation destroys most of the evidence we can use to reconstruct the biography of the buried individual. Remarkably, in Ireland, cremation is used for the earliest recorded human burial and grave assemblage (7530–7320 bc) located on the banks of the River Shannon, at Hermitage, County Limerick. While we are unable to reconstruct in any great detail the biography of this individual, we have examined the biography of a polished stone adzehead interred with their remains. To our knowledge, this adze represents the earliest securely dated polished axe or adze in Europe. Microscopic analysis reveals that the adze was commissioned for burial, with a short duration of use indicating its employment in funerary rites. Before its deposition into the grave it was intentionally blunted, effectively ending its use-life: analogous to the death of the individual it accompanied. The microwear traces on this adze thus provide a rare insight into early Mesolithic hunter-gatherer belief systems surrounding death, whereby tools played an integral part in mortuary rites and were seen as fundamental pieces of equipment for a successful afterlife.

Shortly after arriving in the Shetland archipelago early in the 4th millennium BC, communities began to quarry and make stone tools from riebeckite felsite, quarried from the Northmavine region of North Mainland. The effort expended traveling to the quarry sites, extracting, making and crafting tools was considerable indicating the importance of felsite to Neolithic communities. Results from the North Roe Felsite Project are presented in this paper. The quarrying and distribution of felsite in Shetland can tell us much about insularity, choice, and island identities on a wider scale. The geospatial distribution of 416 felsite tools from across the archipelago was explored. Felsite is used to make tools for utilitarian and ceremonial purposes and, with two exceptions compromising 0.33% of the total dataset, no tools can be securely provenanced outside of Shetland. At a time of increasing communications elsewhere in the Neolithic world, communities in Shetland appear to become focused on the archipelago. This insularity is also evident in contemporary material culture including pottery and funerary structures which do not follow mainland or Orcadian styles, strongly suggesting an islandfocused society during this period. Recent radiocarbon dates suggest that these dynamics were established in the Early Neolithic, before 3500 BC. Felsite, therefore, allows us to explore the otherwise elusive early prehistory of the islands. The distribution network of tools from the quarry complex around the archipelago strongly indicates a preference for maritime travel and transportation, even where terrestrial routes are available. The patterns also suggest settlement and activity across Shetland with important foci at previously understudied locations across North and West Mainland. The study has considerable implications for understanding movement, choice, and identity in past island societies and their relationship to material culture.

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